Point of Care (POC) testing provides rapid diagnostic results using simple analytical readers and test elements proximate the patient, the test elements typically being disposed in cartridges in which a plurality of test elements can be stored. The setting for these apparatuses may be a single practice physician's office, a group practice, an emergency care center, or may further include hospital settings including bedside, emergency room, intensive care, or other locations, each setting needing rapid turnaround of test results. Typical point of care systems are limited by walk up access/availability and throughput. More specifically, these systems typically deploy one (1) patient or test at a time for processing. As a result, and once a test element is inserted into the reader device, another test cannot be initiated until the previous test has been completed. For some immunoassay measurements, the time for completing a test can be as long as 12 minutes, or longer. Readers are also limited typically to a particular test measurement method (i.e., fluorescence, photometric or colorimetric measurements) and have a somewhat limited menu of tests that can be run by the instrument. The reader is typically locked until a test has been completed or aborted and since current POC readers are dedicated to only a single assay method, a pervasive need in the field has since developed for deploying multiple readers to meet menu and throughput demands. Each reader further requires quality control (QC) and routine maintenance. With single sample processing, testing can easily become backlogged, therefore reducing the benefit of point of care testing since in many situations a hospital laboratory is available to conduct the test. A solution to the above needs that provides test flexibility (i.e., a broader available menu of tests and the ability to process multiple test types), reduces testing backlogs and delivers a significant cost reduction (in terms of the reader, calibration/control, maintenance, and overall support costs), when compared to deployment of multiple readers, is critical to meeting the needs of point of care diagnostics.